Marko Pantelić

Marko Pantelić (, ; born 15 September 1978) is a Serbian football agent and former professional footballer who played as a striker. He represented Serbia at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Club career Early years As Pantelić was coming up through the Red Star Belgrade youth system, he was offered a job Thessaloniki and went there alone in Greece. Pantelić was still only 16 years old when he signed a professional contract with Iraklis. At 18, Pantelić accepted an offer to sign for French club Paris Saint-Germain and found himself training and playing alongside Raí, Marco Simone, and Leonardo. With only three matches for the club, he moved to Swiss club Lausanne for one season, scoring eight goals in 21 Swiss league matches. Later, Pantelić signed for Spanish club Celta Vigo, but was sent on loan to Sturm Graz in Austria.

After a two-year absence from professional football, Pantelić returned to Serbia and signed with Obilić in summer 2002. He was essentially starting over as many were quick to write him off as yet another prospect whose career was derailed by going abroad too soon. In January 2003, Pantelić moved to Sartid Smederevo. Upon settling in, he quickly established himself as the team's leader, earning them a Serbia and Montenegro Cup title in 2003. However, his playing time in Smederevo did not go unnoticed by Red Star, and Pantelić became the biggest mid-season signing for the latter in January 2004.

Hertha BSC

After securing a loan move to Hertha for €250,000 on 31 August 2005, the last day of the summer transfer window that year, he went on to score 11 goals in 28 league matches during the 2005–06 season. In April 2006, he signed for Hertha Berlin permanently for an additional €1.5 million fee and soon established himself as one of the most formidable strikers in its squad. Shortly afterwards, Pantelić scored 14 goals from 32 matches in the 2006–07 season and 13 goals for 28 matches in 2007–08 season. In the 2008–09 season, he had limited playing time in favour of Andriy Voronin as Hertha contended for the Bundesliga title. The club fell short, having finished fourth place.

On 17 March 2009, Pantelić denied that he had held talks with any other clubs and refused sign a new contract with Hertha Berlin. He became a free agent in summer 2009.

Later career On 1 September 2009, after completing several medical tests, Pantelić signed a one-year contract with Dutch club Ajax, and was given the number 9 shirt. During the season, he scored sixteen goals and delivered nine assists in 25 league matches. Following the season, Pantelić expressed his desire to sign a new contract with Ajax, which the club preferred a one-year contract. He ended up refusing a one-year contract contact with an option of another to focus on his family.

On 21 August 2010, Pantelić joined Olympiacos on a free transfer. He signed a two-year contract worth €1.6 million per year. Pantelić scored his first goal against Panserraikos. On 11 December 2011, Pantelić scored four goals and to secure a victory against Kerkyra.

Pantelić retired from football in 2013. In 2021, he revealed that his reason to retire was due to strained relationship with the Serbian football culture.

International career Pantelić debuted for the national team in a friendly match against Poland in 2003, In 2010, he was selected in Serbia's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, appearing in group stage matches against Ghana and Australia. He scored his first World Cup goal against Australia in a 2–1 loss. Pantelić also scored three goals in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying. He has not featured for his country since their failure to qualify for the corresponding final tournament. Pantelić earned 43 international appearances and ten goals in total.

Outside football

Pantelić is widely known in his home country for his alter ego "Pantela", which was created when an anonymous editor of Kurir allegedly began writing columns under the nickname "Pantela" to reflect the real Pantelić's wit and charisma. The "Pantela" meme is often accompanied by an exceptionally exaggerated style of speech in the Belgrade dialect, as defined by the columns. The phenomenon became popular that anonymous fans created profiles on Twitter and Facebook to mimic Pantelić's humorous personality. Pantelić himself confirmed that he is not the owner of either profiles, but admitted to Kurir that he found his alter egos funny and claimed that he would even want to meet the people behind his social networking profiles.

Career statistics Club

International Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition

Honours

Club Lausanne Swiss Cup: 1998–99

Sartid Smederevo Serbia and Montenegro Cup: 2002–03

Red Star Belgrade First League of Serbia and Montenegro: 2003–04 Serbia and Montenegro Cup: 2003–04

Hertha BSC UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2006

Ajax KNVB Cup: 2009–10

Olympiacos Super League Greece: 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13 Greek Cup: 2011–12, 2012–13

Individual Best Sportsman of SD Crvena Zvezda: 2004 First League of Serbia and Montenegro Top Scorer: 2004–05 Greek Cup Top Goalscorer: 2011–12 (6 goals)